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Realistic T5 Torpedoes

This mod changes the acoustic seeker and control of the T5 (G7es) torpedo according to the historical parameters.

Disclaimer: the mod is still work in progress, therefore you might encounter some bugs. If you find any unexpected behavior, please report it in the discussion below.

► b131 and 2022.1, no new career is needed and mod is savegame compatible.
► It should be possible to unsubscribe as you wish, without any harm to your career progress.
► If you load a save, where the torpedoes were in the water before this mod was applied, or you have save where torpedoes were fired, while this mod was active and you unsubscribe in the meantime, the torpedoes will probably not work as intended / there might be exceptions in the game log.
► No compatibility issues with other mods found at this moment. Mod is compatible with the TDC mod.

► Acoustic seeker is now using two hydrophones with directional characteristic reconstructed from the real WW2 data. Refer to the attached picture of right hydrophone. Sensitivity pattern of left hydrophone is same, just mirrored along the 0 degree axis. Sensitivity is 100% at 25 and 30 degrees, then drops sharply to 25% at 0 degrees or 50 degrees. Torpedo has small sensitivity from the rear side as well, this is however not visible in the chart, because chart uses linear scale. You can find the original logarithmic plot in the sources I referenced below.
► Seeker detection range is not anymore based on target speed, but instead on the noise generated by the target (which comes from target's rotating propeller).
► Acoustic seeker will only get armed after torpedo has ran for at least 400m.
► Nominal range is about 550m for target with maximum design speed of 15kn, it might be over 750m for the fastest 35kn escorts and under 200-300m for slow going merchants. It however really depends on the current propeller speed, if the target stops the engines completely, it becomes invisible for the torpedo after the propeller stops spinning.
► Control of the torpedo rudder was reconstructed according to historical description. It is working in toggle mode, steering in the direction of the hydrophone with stronger signal. If signal drops below the detection threshold, torpedo will keep turning in the last direction, unless new signal is picked.
► Torpedo has now realistic turn radius of 75 meters.
► Torpedo is not steering in vertical plane(depth), instead the depth is kept constant according to the launch preset.
► Detection range is affected by nearby depth charge explosions and noisemakers launched from the uboat.
► I have not modified any of the parameters that come from the datasheets, torpedo has still unrealistic range of 6.5km stated in the datasheets.

► Implement vertical "dead zone" (angle) similar as escort's hydrones, that will prevent detection of submerged target at close distance (currently work in progress).
► Disable time to impact reporting by crew for acoustic torpedoes.
► Disable torpedo propeller spinning after it runs out of batteries (this is standard behavior of all torpedoes and not caused by the mod).

When you launch T5 with target distance set to 0, it will stay circling in place. This problem is not caused by the mod, but I will try to have look what causes it.
I have noticed other types of torpedoes are behaving the same.

Be warned, the T5 torpedo now behaves completely differently to what you were used from the base game, even the previous version of this mod. The angle with maximum seeker sensitivity is quite narrow, therefore aim the torpedoes in a way, that the target will come into angle of +-30 degrees from the torpedo nose, when the torpedo will be within 500m from it. The benefit of the narrower sensitivity is however that it is easier to fire torpedoes at multiple targets with less risk of all of them being drawn only towards one of the targets.
Do not waste torpedoes on very close targets, the acoustic seeker needs 400m to arm and hitting target that is closer than 500-600m is very difficult.

It was quite hard to find accurate historical description beyond the basic parameters of the G7es, but I have finally found some good sources.
First one is on Soviets reverse-engineering the captured T5's, article is in Russian, but translate did a good job for me:
https://allmines.net/catalog/russia/torps/saet50/
Second is this after war USNAVY report, which is very nice source of information:
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/rep/ASW-51/ASW-15.html
This report contains much more interesting information on ASW warfare, escort tactics, radar use, etc. You can click on Table of Contents on the bottom of the page.

I would very appreciate you feedback. Testers are always welcome.


Please check out my other mods as well on salamander's Workshop.

If you experience problems, please check my When the mods don't work... guide and write in the discussion below the mod if the basic steps from the guide have not helped you.

If you like my work, please consider supporting me on Patreon or through PayPal. Any small contribution will help me to devote more time to the modding and bring cool stuff in the future.
https://www.patreon.com/uboatsalamander
paypal.me/uboatsalamander

Thank you!